Noticeboard

Need Urgent Dental Care?

If you need help with an urgent dental problem, call our helpline, available from 9am to 9:30pm everyday, including weekends and Bank Holidays.

0161 476 9651 (Local Rate)

Local dental providers offer NHS urgent dental clinics across Cheshire and Merseyside, with urgent appointments for patients who need urgent treatment, advice and support on dental queries or referral to other services.

The service is provided according to strict clinical criteri

a and when you call you'll be assessed by a member of our clinical team to make sure your problem come under either:

Trauma - this is usually caused by a blow to the face, a lost filling is not classed as a trauma.

Swelling of the face

Bleeding, uncontrolled, such as after an extraction

Pain that can't be controlled by pain relief medicines.

If you're given an appointment and your problem doesn't fit of the above, you'll still have to pay the NHS fee but may receive advice and not treatment.

Clinic times vary.and at busy times or when your local clinic's not available you may be offered an appointment at an alternative location.

Please not: this is an appointment only service - we do not operate a "drop in" service at any of our surgeries

Doctors

Partners

Dr John Holden (m)

MD FRCGP

John Holden has been a General Practitioner since 1984; for 17 years in Haydock, St Helens. On 1 May 2004 he and Jon White realised an ambition to run a small practice together as they took over the running of Garswood Surgery. John is an active member of the Royal College of General Practitioners and currently chairs their Fellowship by Assessment group. He has published a variety of medical papers, mainly about quality of care in general practice. Dr Holden now works Mondays & Tuesdays.

John is married with three daughters, runs regularly and enjoys fell walking with his family. He is an active member of St Thomas Church and maintains links with Uganda where he worked from 1979 to 1982.

Dr Helen Parr (f)

MB ChB MRCGP DFFP

Dr Parr qualified as a doctor in 2001 and has worked in general medicine and anaesthetics before specialising in general practice. Dr Parr works here on Mondays, Tuesdays & Wednesdays.

Married with 3 daughters, Dr Parr enjoys spending time with her family, travel, reading and enjoys participating in sponsored events for cancer research.

Married with 2 daughters, Dr Lawson enjoys spending time with his family and watching Rugby Union.

Salaried

Dr Anna Newton (f)

MBChB, MRCGP, PGCert

Dr Newton qualified in 2009 from the University of Leeds she then moved back to the Northwest and completed her GP training here at Garswood, before joining us as a Salaried GP.

She works Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Fridays. She has completed a teaching certificate at Edge Hill University and is hoping to become a GP Trainer in the near future.

Dr Newton is married and enjoys spending time with her family as well as travelling and is a keen rugby union fan.

NB: Dr Newton is currently on maternity leave.

GP Registrar

A GP Registrar is a fully qualified doctor who has decided to specialise in General Practice. As part of their ongoing training they spend up to two years working in hospitals in different departments, usually before commencing work at a GP surgery. This is compulsory experience before becoming a GP. GP Registrars work closely with their appointed trainer, who is another GP at the practice. They will usually be working with us at the practice for up to 12 months. During that time they may wish to video record the consultation, which you will be notified of and asked for your permission to do so. This is strictly confidential and is for training purposes only. This is an ideal opportunity for you to help in the development of future GPs.

Foundation 2 GP (F2GP)

Garswood Surgery is an accredited training practice; this means that when you make an appointment you may see a doctor who training to be a GP (known as a registrar) or a foundation two doctor.

A foundation two doctor is a fully qualified doctor who is in their second year of junior doctor foundation training programme.

The “Foundation Programme” was introduced by Modernising Medical Careers. It is a two year training programme for doctors following graduation from medical school. It is designed to give junior doctors a range of experience before choosing an area of medicine in which to specialise in.(1)

At the surgery we have a foundation two doctor who works at the surgery on a full time basis for four months at a time. They are normally based at Whiston hospital and spend four months of a twelve month rotation at the practice.

Working in general practice as part of their training programme is an important part of learning how to manage patients and chronic disease in the community and it is of particular benefit to those junior doctors who are considering pursuing a career in general practice, although all doctors need to experience it.

Whilst at the practice one of our most recent foundation doctors performed a patient survey to assess how satisfied patients were following their consultation and whether or not they would see a foundation two doctor again. From this survey 94% of patients were either extremely or very satisfied with their consultation and 100% of patients would see a foundation doctor again.

If you have any further questions about foundation doctors in General Practice please ask reception for more details. Most importantly if you do happen to see a foundation doctor please do not hesitate to give them some feedback, it is always appreciated.

Nurses

Nurse Tracey Peet (f)

Our Practice Nurse, Tracey Peet, works full time at the practice. On Mondays she holds an afternoon surgery for Baby Immunisations and she works later on Monday evening to offer appointments for those who work during the day and who cannot get to the surgery during normal opening hours. She is here 5 days per week but she does not work on Friday afternoons.

She does not routinely provide treatment room services as these are available as a separate community based service.

Healthcare Assistants

Julie Bryan (f)

Healthcare Assistants (HCAs) are involved in direct patient care or investigations. They do not have a medical or any nursing qualification and therefore work under the instruction of a doctor or nurse rather than on their own initiative.

The role of the healthcare assistant is an innovation in the National Health Service and there are an increasing number of such staff in many areas of healthcare including general practice. Their role is being developed to address an increasing shift of work to general practice and their duties include performing investigations requested by clinicians (usually the doctor or nurse) such as phlebotomy (blood taking), blood pressure, weight and height monitoring, urinalysis, pill checks, spirometry (testing only – not interpretation), Glucose Tolerance Testing and INR (Warfarin) fingerprick testing.

We currently have 1 HCA, Julie Bryan. She is a qualified phlebotomist and has undertaken relevant training accredited by the Royal College of Nurses to ensure that they are competent to perform the tasks they undertake.

She is not a clinician and performs her role to strict protocols devised by the doctors and practice nurse. She is mentored and her performance regularly monitored and appraised by the practice nurse.

Please understand that our HCAs are only able to give advice within the boundaries of the protocols under which they operate or by producing patient information leaflets from approved websites (which you can access yourself through this website).

Practice Management

Mrs Sharon Greenwood

Practice Manager (MIHM, MILM)

Sharon works at the practice 5 days per week. She is responsible for administration and the future development of the practice. Please contact her if you have any suggestions for improving our service or if you have a complaint.

Reception

Mrs Emma Kindon

Reception Manager

Mrs Julie Bryan

Health Care Assistant/Phlebotomist

Mrs Alex Prince

Administration Officer

Mrs Kate Gill

Receptionist / Finance Officer

Sarah Marlow

Receptionist

Nicola Holcroft

Receptionist

Kimberley Pennington

Receptionist

Jessica O'Mara

Modern Apprentice

Chloe Jones

Modern Apprentice

Jasmine Hickey

Modern Apprentice

Reception is normally your first point of contact with the practice. Our reception staff, all of whom are trained to provide you with a friendly, efficient service will make your appointment, deal with requests for repeat prescriptions, and can provide you with information about our services.

Please speak to them if you have a problem and they will do their best to help.

Attached Staff

Community Midwives

The ante-natal clinic is held in at Garswood Primary Care Centre from 9am every Tuesday morning by appointment only. Our Midwife runs the clinic and works closely with the doctors to provide quality antenatal and postnatal care.

For further information about ante-natal and post-natal services please click here.

Community Nurses

We are proud of our strong team of district nurses who work with us in the community. They have excellent communication links with the GPs enabling them to deliver a professional, efficient and effective service. They provide a high standard of nursing care for those patients needing various high level clinical treatment within their own environments.

Health Visitors

The Health Visitors can offer advice on caring for children, special needs, benefits, relationship problems and counselling relating to children aged 0 - 19. Child Development checks are also carried out at regular intervals.

The practice holds a well-baby clinic on Monday afternoons between 1.30pm-3pm. This is held on the 1st floor of the building.

The Health Visitors carry out the babies 6 week post natal check on Wednesday afternoons. This is an appointment only service. The Health Visitors send these appointments out directly to the baby’s parent/guardian.

If you have queries regarding bed wetting, constipation, temper tantrums, etc., you can contact your health visitors to discuss this on 01744 750401.

Phlebotomist (Blood-Taking Nurse)

Our Community Phlebotomist holds a drop-in phlebotomy clinic every Monday morning from 9am – 10:45am. You do not need to be registered as a patient of Garswood Surgery to attend this clinic. If you are not registered with Garswood Surgery, please ensure that you bring your Blood Form with your to this clinic. If you are registered with Garswood Surgery, you can collect your blood form from reception before you have your bloods taken.

Our Health Care Assistant, Julie, also offers an in-house phlebotomy service, by appointment only. This service is exclusive to our own patients, on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings.

Bloods have to be taken in the mornings at the surgery, as they need to be sent to the laboratories in the early afternoon to ensure that the samples are sufficient. If you cannot attend for bloods in the mornings, please ask at reception about other facilities that offer afternoon appointments/drop-ins

Please note: Health Care Assistants are not nurses. They are staff who have undergone specific health care training and are accredited to work strictly to specific guidelines and protocols which have been devised and approved by the doctors. They are unable to answer queries outside of their remit.